Second Life - Mean Streets

Everything was readied. Police officers formed a security perimeter around the warehouse the aliens were using to build their secret bio-weapon. Choi, Payton, Etherea, and Aria made ready to go in. Etherea was wearing a costume that the CCPD Lab boys had put together for her. Maybe a little more risque than what she might have chosen for herself, but it was functional and concealed her identity. Aria wore a high tech stealth suit and carried her tools.

Etherea and Aria went in through a second floor window while Choi and Payton entered through the front to create a distraction. Distraction turned into a hail of bullets and the hissing screams of the aliens. On the second floor Etherea and Aria found the TV reporter that had been dogging this story for a while now, armed with a video camera. She’d gotten a lead on the warehouse and followed it.

The battle was fierce as Choi and Payton shot it out with the aliens near the front door, unable to get too far into the warehouse due to the sheer number and ferocity of the creatures. Etherea used her super human strength to punch through the floor above to allow her and Aria access to the ground floor and the alien bio-weapon. The device was armed by one of the aliens, and the clock was ticking.

While the fighting raged Aria was able to gain access to the device. It was built from a mixture of alien and terrestrial components, but she was able to work through the system, eventually disarming the device.

Etherea, Choi, and Payton were finally able to dispatch the last of the aliens on the lower floor. The officers on the perimeter stopped any from escaping the building, and as things inside wound down the strange girl Payton had met before, Maggie, came down stairs. She too had joined the group, killing some of the aliens from upstairs. Maggie went to inspect the alien bio-weapon to ensure it was harmless.

These are some OOC conclusions, since I wasn’t feeling well and had to bail before I was able to close the loose ends

The Feds clear the arrest warrant for Aria. And they notice the glitch that keeps replacing the pictures on other wanted notices with her picture. They assure her that they will get it cleared up as soon as possible, but for her own safety they tell her it would be best to remain in Crescent City.

Agent Prince is found. She’s been held prisoner for weeks now. The Feds take her to a private hospital for a debriefing and to ensure she’s cared for.

The other alien teleportation devices are located. Maggie is able to give you the locations for those devices. They are all broken when the authorities get there, and several dead aliens are discovered along with them.

We are on summer break.

Not sure how long we will be on hiatus, but I wanted to let everyone have the summer off and take some time to work on how to better present story lines for players so that there is only one story at a time really. Let the players all have some part in the story, make it easier to follow and participate in. This will probably mean that some people wont have anything to do some weeks unless they seek out another player or an NPC to chat with.

Thanks again for all of your time and effort. The game has been fun for me so far, and I hope you have been able to enjoy it as well.

Lt. Devlin informed some of the uniforms, Etherea and Aria that the Feds were aware of the presence of the aliens and their intent to build a bio-weapon that they suspect was designed to wipe out all human life. This bio-weapon was probably the same agent that had been used on the people at the Subvay restaurant, and therefore they were now immune. the doctors had given the police all the anti-viral for the compound that they had, so that several uniformed officers would also be immune.

The plan was simple, Etherea and Aria would slip inside the warehouse where the aliens were and disarm the device. Etherea would use her super powers to dispatch the aliens while Aria used her technical expertise to disarm the alien weapon.

Aria seemed reluctant, but Lt. Devlin was able to convince her by explaining that the Feds wanted to arrest her, he was able to convince them that she was far more valuable to the city, and possibly the world, by staying here to help. Aria thought to simply remove all traces of the warrant from the electronic world, but she soon discovered that she was showing up on all manner of warrants and watch lists, well her picture was. And the number was increasing every second. She agreed, under protest, to help save the world.

After falling into a coma the victims of the mysterious virus struggled to survive. Had it not been for the heroic efforts of the hospital staff, they wouldn’t have made it.

Madame Zoltara had seen in a vision that if she let the EMTs wash the virus from her that all would be lost, so she hid in her shop, but the perspiration from her body caused the virus to activate some of the virus. Her fever dream was what allowed the other victims to spend time in their little artificial reality. The Haz-Mat team found Madame Zoltara and bundled her up to transport her to the hospital’s quarantine unit. Dr. Footman was able to get unactivated samples of the virus for study. She learned that the virus had a self destruct timer, so all she had to do was keep the victims alive until the clock ran out and their bodies could build an immunity. Easier said than done.

Once during the night they had to shock Aria back to life after her heart stopped. Etherea’s enhanced metabolism burned through fluids and at times they had to have three IV bags running at once to keep her from crashing.

Late the next day though the fevers broke and they began to recover. Choi was slowest to come back, fading in and out. It was determined that it wasn’t the virus, it seemed to be a physical reaction to a change in her brain chemistry. the medical staff continued to work on her to assist in her recovery, with the help of Payton Reed.

Reed had left his room in search of coffee. He dodged a reporter in the lobby who was talking to Patrolman Dixon about the virus attack and if there was a threat to the city at large. She asked if the victims might be turning into zombies. Dixon assured her that was not the case.

The staff tried paging Reed to locate him, and Dixon started a foot search of the areas of the hospital the majority of the staff avoided, which included the morgue. He found Reed in a corner, muttering, and all he could think of was the lady reporter’s question about zombie police. It was determined Reed was in search of coffee, and not a zombie.

Dixon brought Reed some coffee and reported that the CSI lab had used the material Reed had given them to figure out, based on foot traffic patterns, what the most likely place the aliens might be using as a base. When the PD tried to get a warrant they got contacted by the Feds and told to hold. Dixon related that a federal agent was in talking with Lt. Devlin so some answers should be forthcoming.

Aria had ordered pizza, and it had not arrived. She took this moment to ask Dixon if he could help. Dixon went to get the pizza, but it was Lt. Devlin who returned with it. This was when the staff began to work with Reed to find out what might be happening to Choi.

Join us next week when Lt. Devlin reveals what he’s learned from the feds.

Payton, Etherea, Aria, and Choi continued their hospital stay. They were bored and trying to find things to do. It was learned that Madame Ekatarina Zoltara who had also been sprayed with goo had not been admitted to the hospital. Payton ordered Patrolman Dixon to send a unit to her shop in Southside and see if she was there.

Etherea had been left alone upstairs, and started to have a lovely conversation with a giant spider. Etherea is a bit creeped out by spiders it seems. So she asked it to become something nicer, and so it became a kitten.

When the others started to hallucinate, things got weirder. They all passed out and woke up in the Subvay restaurant, with Madame Zoltara, the dead zombie girl, Franklin Sawyer and a large black crow.

Apparently Madame Zoltara was having her own fever dream, and had telepathically linked the minds of all of the others that were effected by the virus. And Franklin Sawyer was their collective subconscious. The zombie girl was just a psychic residue, since she was a zombie when she died. Turns out she was working on a cure for the zombie juice. And, if the collective subconscious is to be believed it seems like she might have been a trap set by the aliens. someone that wasn’t Vashir kidnapped her and implanted the virus bomb, killing her. Then her corpse was stolen and turned into a zombie, a zombie that seemed to be after Aria. And Bonnie’s visit to Aria prompted the call to the police that drew them all together. The zombie was dropped near the area by Vashir. So, if Vashir didn’t know about the virus bomb he probably didn’t know about the visit Bonnie paid to Aria to draw the police to her, in range of the virus bomb.

It was a matter of timing, they happened to leave the hotel and go next door to the Subvay restaurant, and talked to Madame Zoltara. The psychic probably wasn’t part of the plan. So when all the evidence was staked up, it appears as though the aliens have got Bonnie working for them. Maybe they have agreed to let her have all the men she can devour. They want the entire human race dead anyway, so in the end it doesn’t matter to them how they’re killed. But let’s face it, if they’re gonna use subterfuge to wipe out a race just to steal their planet, they’re not gonna deal straight with someone like Bonnie either. They probably plan to kill her when she’s outlived her usefulness.

And then, the lights went out. Will they wake up in the hospital, or have things gotten even stranger?

Etherea, Payton and Aria were put through decontamination by the Fire Department Haz-Mat team and taken to Sacred Heart Hospital to be examined.

Dr. Footman did a quick assessment and determined that each of them sounded like they had pneumonia, so she ordered a body scan and x-rays.

Meanwhile Dr. Sohl, the ME, examined the remains of the zombie that had showered the three in green goo. The goo was determined not to be what had come to be known as Zombie Blood but was something else entirely. The zombie was fitted with a bladder containing the goo that was hooked to a compressed air cylinder. When the zombie died the compressed air filled the bladder causing it to swell and eventually pop, showering everyone nearby with the goo. Dr. Sohl was able to determine the goo was a suspension agent for some sort of virus. The agent kept the virus inert, but once exposed to air the agent began to break down, and the virus became active. The agent had some characteristics of DMSO, which allowed it and the virus to be absorbed quickly through skin contact.

Dr. Footman called for a lock down of the hospital and full biological contamination protocols to be put into effect. The medical staff began to run blood and other tests on the victims once it was determined the virus took up residence in their lungs and was spreading through their bodies.

Thought was given to using the Purple Goo as a means of protecting someone, but when Molly went to the lab to check on the samples she discovered it was gone. Apparently someone broke into the storage area and took the two samples there as well as the small sample from Molly’s lab. The other small sample that Dr. Sohl had was still in her lab. The security system shows that it was Molly’s key code that opened the storage area, but the access was while she was discussing the virus with the patients. A chair was pushed up under the keypad and several books were staked in it, suggesting that perhaps someone in the area of one foot tall might have used the keypad. A broom was found inside the storage area near the cabinet the samples were in, perhaps used by someone very small to open the latch on the cabinet. The security camera that was observing the area was disabled.

The patients will be staying at the hospital for the time being, until the medical staff can get a handle on whatever it is they’ve been exposed to.

We had a number of observers on the sim for the game. Many of whom had never seen any role-playing before

The detectives debated weather a Teddy bear was a stuffed animal or classified as a doll when Patrolman Dixon mentioned he might need to take a report concerning Dr. Footman’s missing bear. That debate is still open mind you. It was interrupted by a shots fired call that came over the radio.

Aria awoke from her good night sleep to discover that she had company in her hotel room. Bonnie Black had come to see what all the interest in Aria was about. They spoke at length about their philosophical points of view, that was until Aria tried to put a bullet into Bonnie. That prompted the desk clerk to call the police, as well as a few of the other hotel guests. I would have to guess that Bonnie must have said something that touched a nerve in Aria, or perhaps the strain of being the focus of so much attention has finally taken it’s toll on Aria.

Madame Ekatarina Zoltara was enjoying her lunch at the nearby Subvay restaurant, she felt a disturbance in the….she sensed something dark in the hotel.

The police raced to the hotel and questioned Aria at length. Detective Reed used his special talents to get….well he got more than he bargained for but nothing to help with the case.

Eventually it was decided that Madame Zoltara might be able to shed some light on the mysterious Bonnie Black. The police and Aria went over to the restaurant where the fortune teller was having her lunch. Madame Zoltara was able to shed some light on the situation, and using her keen powers of observation alert them to impending danger. Okay, she happened to see a zombie shamble into the restaurant and drew their attention to it.

Attention drawn, and a host of firearms, the police dispatched the zombie. Someone made the observation that the zombies all seemed to have dark hair. Someone else made the observation that most of the police force were red heads. the zombie swelled up like a balloon and exploded, showering most of the people there in goo.

Haz Mat and emergency services were dispatched. The detectives, Madame Zoltara, and Aria are being taken to the hospital to be examined.

Detective Reed followed up on some leads that led him to the Tikki Bar in Southside to talk to Maggie the scaly surfer girl. Who is apparently more than that.

Aria looked for clues to the disappearance of Teddy. She found some lint in the hole where she had buried him shhhh, it’s a secret that she stole kidnapped Teddy but not much else. She went to Southside to try and find Bonnie Black, the villain behind everything!

Molly and Rebekkah had a talk about the missing Teddy and tracing cell phone calls. Molly seems lost without Teddy. She had received a call on her mobile from Teddy, and she was able to trace the call back to a phone booth. How could a foot tall bear use a payphone? After work she walked past the phone on her way home. Hey, it was worth a shot. She saw some small items staked up in the phone booth, mostly from a nearby trash bin. Someone, perhaps someone a foot tall or so, might have been able to use the staked items like stairs to climb up to the shelf under the phone to make a call. But that’s not to say a stuffed bear actually dragged all those things over there to stack them up and use a payphone! She also saw some traces of mud and tufts of fuzz. She took samples, because she is a scientist and not because she expects the trace evidence to suggest her beloved Teddy struggled for over an hour too get to a phone to call his Dr. Molly.

Etherea and Choi weren’t present, so it was assumed that they were keeping vigil over Tracy “Sugar” Candle. Sugar gave them a lead about Derrick Renfro, the manager of the pawn shop down in Southside. Derrick and Eric Bonner were chums. the detectives would have been able to determine through diligent police work that Renfro went to visit Eric in prison a few times while Eric was awaiting trial.

Aria made a quick switch to replace Molly’s Teddy Bear. But Molly is very close to Teddy, and she’s sewn him up before. She can tell her own stitching. Aria convinced Molly that Teddy was stolen by the evil Bonnie Black.

Choi, Etherea, and Payton were informed by Lt. Devlin of the CCPD that they needed to find Tracy “Sugar” Candle she was involved with Eric Bonner, who was killed in prison. It’s suspected that Eric’s killer is one of the aliens we’ve been seeing, and it’s possible Sugar might be able to provide a lead. Of course, Etherea knows exactly where Sugar is supposed to be, since the girl came to her for help. The police are trying to sort out what, if anything, Sugar might know. She gave them a couple of possible clues. One if a former contact of Eric’s, some guy that works at the pawn shop. And something else she mentioned was important. What was it though…

Molly, Rebekkah, and Aria are working to try and lure Bonnie Black out. They are conducting some experiments with the purple goo that Aria had been covered with. But it’s not really the purple goo.

While waiting to see if the trap will draw out the prey, Aria went to the hiding place where she had hidden Molly’s Teddy Bear. The rock covering the hole was overturned and Teddy was no where to be seen. Who has it now, and what are they going to do with it?

Aria and Etherea spent some time at the hospital after their encounter with the mysterious Dr. Vashir.

Molly may have mentioned that her Teddy Bear doesn’t like Aria.

CSI went over the scene of the fight in South Side. No trace evidence of any value. Most importantly there was no trace of the purple suit material.

CSI also went through Reed’s office at the PD. He’d killed the hooker Sugar in self-defense, at least that’s the story he told the first units on the scene.

The body of Sugar was taken the the morgue. She had injuries consistent with Reed’s statement. And there was the little matter of her actually being another alien wearing a human suit.

The real Sugar, or so she says, called Etherea to ask the detective to bring home some pizza for dinner. Sugar doesn’t have a mobile phone, and Etherea doesn’t have a land line, so this sugar made the call from a public phone. I wonder if anyone saw her? Especially anyone that might be in the group trying to kill her. The same group it seems that is mostly populated with aliens wearing human suits.

On the subject of aliens wearing human suits. Dr. Sohl seems to be wondering when the Feds are gonna show up to claim all the alien corpses.

Molly’s Teddy Bear is cute. The good doctor may have learned some embarrassing things recently about what happened to her lab.

The new CSI Sven contacted Etherea to give her the results of her analysis of the chalk man crime scene. It’s been stated by Filmore Fine that Etherea is the defacto “Strange Case Detective”

Aria decided to go stand in the same spot where Green Dragon attacked her. She met a lovely man there, Dr. Olen Vashir. It’s hard to know what Vashir was after. He quickly made Aria’s purple suit bind and gag her, but before he could do anything else Etherea showed up. Aria’s phone was sending the conversation, what there was of it, to the detective. Etherea was convinced to give Vashir a blood sample, in exchange he’s ensure that it would be possible to free Aria from her purple suit. He obtained Etherea’s attention by causing the suit to begin crushing Aria, to demonstrate that Etherea should comply with his wishes. Vashir got the blood sample, and vanished. Etherea was able to extract Aria from the suit, which seemed to be constricting around her again. The question is, what was it that Vashir really wanted?

Detective Reed got a visitor in his office at the precinct. Someone who he’d met before. She seemed nice enough, until she tried to kill him. At least, that’s the story he’s planning to tell.